National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 919
Re: Future Generations Bill 2026
NDIS Bill Senate Submission
We are the parents of a 36-year-old man who is a NDIS participant.
Since entering the NDIS in 2019, our son’s quality of life has improved in ways we could never have achieved alone. For the first time in his life, he has been able to access meaningful community participation, trusted support workers, friendships, safety, dignity, and opportunities that many Australians take for granted.
That is what the NDIS was originally designed to do.
Yet the scheme is now being steadily dismantled under the guise of “reform,” and the people who will pay the highest price are not fraudsters or opportunists — they are Australians living with profound disability.
We strongly oppose the Future Generations Bill 2026.
Like most Australians, we support measures that target fraud, exploitation, and misuse of taxpayer money. However, this Bill does not merely target fraud. It fundamentally reshapes the NDIS by stripping participants of choice, security, dignity, procedural fairness, and access to essential supports.
The NDIS has become an easy political scapegoat. Public rhetoric surrounding “blowouts” and “unsustainable costs” ignores the reality that the overwhelming majority of participants are ordinary Australians with genuine and lifelong disabilities who rely on these supports to survive and participate in society. Meanwhile, far greater waste and misuse exist across other government systems such as Medicare and the Defence department, yet people with disability are being disproportionately targeted and vilified.
The tone and direction of these reforms are creating fear, instability, and distress for thousands of vulnerable Australians and their families.
There are many deeply concerning aspects of this Bill, however we wish to highlight several proposals that would have devastating consequences for our son and countless others.
- The 50% Cut to Social and Community Participation Funding from October 2026
Our son is 36 years old, yet he functions at the level of a young child.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 919
His favourite television shows are Postman Pat and The Wiggles. He cannot independently access the community, visit friends, attend activities, or participate in everyday life without constant support and supervision. He requires care and support 24/7.
Without funded support workers, our son would become isolated inside his home.
Social and community participation is not a luxury. It is not “extra.” It is a basic human right and a critical safeguard against loneliness, depression, regression, and complete social isolation.
The justification for these cuts — that some workers misuse their time — is deeply flawed and profoundly unfair. You do not punish an entire population of vulnerable people because of the misconduct of a minority. Fraud and misconduct should be addressed directly through regulation and enforcement, not by removing essential supports from innocent participants.
For our son, these cuts would not simply reduce activities. They would dismantle his entire world.
- Self-Management and Forced Registration of Workers
Our son has a small, trusted team of long-term support workers who know him intimately and care for him with compassion, dignity, patience, and professionalism.
These are the people who assist him every single day with every day care including:
• toileting and personal hygiene,
• showering,
• brushing his teeth and hair,
• shaving,
• administering medication five times daily,
• preparation and cutting up of meals
• emotional regulation,
• accessing the community,
• and maintaining social connection and safety.
These workers are not interchangeable.
The proposed changes threaten the fundamental right of participants to choose who provides their intimate daily care. They place at risk the continuity, trust, and emotional safety that vulnerable people depend upon.
Forcing participants to abandon trusted carers in favour of unfamiliar registered providers is not reform — it is institutional thinking disguised as regulation.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 919
It would devastate our son emotionally and psychologically.
It would also destroy the livelihoods of many experienced, ethical, highly skilled support workers who have dedicated themselves to disability care for years.
- The Minister’s New Power to Cut Funding Without Appeal (Section 34A)
This proposal is one of the most alarming aspects of the Bill.
The removal or restriction of a person’s ability to challenge decisions that directly affect their care, safety, independence, and wellbeing is fundamentally unjust.
The right to appeal government decisions is a cornerstone of a democratic society.
No Minister should hold unchecked powers to reduce or remove critical disability supports without meaningful review or independent oversight.
Participants are not numbers on a spreadsheet. These decisions affect real human beings whose lives, health, safety, and dignity depend upon these supports.
- The New Functional Capacity Test and Mass Reassessments from 2028
Families like ours are exhausted from having to repeatedly “prove” permanent and lifelong disability.
Our son’s disabilities will not improve.
We are deeply concerned that the proposed functional capacity framework will fail to properly recognise the cumulative and compounding impact of multiple disabilities interacting together.
Our son’s impairments cannot be viewed in isolation. The interplay between his disabilities leaves him entirely dependent on others for daily functioning and requires 24/7 support and supervision.
Yet under these proposed reforms, families face the terrifying prospect of being repeatedly reassessed, re-traumatised, and forced to justify basic supports over and over again to a system increasingly focused on cost reduction rather than human need.
This is not compassionate policy. It is bureaucratic cruelty.
As parents and ageing carers, we already live with constant fear about our son’s future. We carry the overwhelming emotional burden of wondering what will happen to him when we are no longer here to advocate for him.
This Bill intensifies that fear.
The message being sent to people with disability and their families is clear: your supports are conditional, your security is temporary, and your dignity is negotiable.
That is unacceptable in a country like Australia.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026 Submission 919
We ask you to consider the real human consequences of these reforms — not the political talking points, not the budget headlines, and not the rhetoric surrounding “sustainability.”
Please think about the people whose lives will be directly harmed.
Think about vulnerable Australians being isolated from their communities.
Think about participants losing trusted carers.
Think about parents forced to fight endlessly to prove lifelong disability.
Think about the anxiety, instability, and despair these reforms are already causing within the disability community.
We urge you to reject the Future Generations Bill 2026 and stand firmly against reforms that erode the rights, dignity, and humanity of Australians living with disability.
IMPORTANT: While we respectfully request that our names remain confidential and unpublished, we give full permission for our words and our family’s story to be shared publicly in support of advocacy for the rights, dignity, and protection of Australians living with disability. We speak not only for our son, but for the countless families who are exhausted, frightened, and fighting to ensure their loved ones are treated with humanity, fairness, and compassion.